HOUSTON – Duke Energy International and Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) announced today the sale and transfer of two LNG vessels owned by Duke Energy to NLNG.

"The sale of these two LNG vessels is another example of Duke Energy's ability to capture shareholder value through active management of our asset portfolio," said Bruce Williamson, president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy International. "In addition to harvesting this value for our shareholders, the sale of these vessels allows us to focus on our core businesses and continue the development of regional energy businesses in the liberalizing markets of Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe."

"These ships are an integral part of the total fleet of seven LNG carriers, of which four are directly owned through Bonny Gas Transport, a wholly owned subsidiary of NLNG, that NLNG needs in order to fulfill its delivery commitments to its customers from the first two liquefaction trains," said Andrew Jamieson, managing director of Nigeria LNG Ltd. "The purchase of these two ships has therefore always been part of NLNG’s long-term shipping strategy. The agreement reached with Duke Energy permits NLNG to achieve this objective earlier than was originally foreseen, permitting substantial savings in overall shipping costs to NLNG."

Built in 1980, the ships were long-term chartered in 1995 to NLNG for up to 22 and one-half years. The charter agreements also stipulated options to NLNG to extend the charter as well as purchase the vessels. The LNG EDO and LNG ABUJA, as the ships are called, provide LNG transportation from Bonny, Nigeria, to NLNG’s customers in Europe.

NLNG is an incorporated joint venture company, based in Lagos Nigeria, which owns and operates a two-train Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant on Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria. The total output of the plant is 7.35 Bcm/year, which has been sold on 22 year contracts to Enel of Italy, Enagas of Spain, Botas in Turkey, Gaz de France in France and Transgas in Portugal. The plant started production in October 1999. NLNG has a third liquefaction train under construction, whose output has been sold to Enagas and Transgas above, and which will start production end 2002. The shareholders of NLNG are Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49 percent), Shell (25.6 percent), Elf (15 percent) and Agip (10.4 percent).

Duke Energy International (DEI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy, is one of the world’s leading international energy companies offering energy trading and marketing, risk management, natural gas and power development expertise and operations services across Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Duke Energy, a premier global energy services company, serves customers and creates shareholder value through an integrated network of energy assets and energy experts. As market leaders in their respective fields, Duke Energy businesses manage a multi-national portfolio of energy supply, delivery and trading assets valued at approximately $30 billion. Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is a Fortune 100 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.